Car-door-operating mechanism



July 7, 1925. l

' L. H. FOSTER cn Doon OPERATING ucmmrsu Filed NOV. 5, 1923 v .5 Sheets-Sheet 2 .L-.HFoste-n am WITNESS:

July 7, 192s. 1,544,896

L l-l. FOSTER CAR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISII Filed Nov. s. 192s s'sneets-sneet s WITNESS:

Patented July 7, 13925.

LEWIs H. FOSTER, or WARREN, yoHIo. Y Y

CAR-DOOR--OTRATING MECHANISM.

'Application filed VNtoveniber To tall whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, Lewis a citizen Of the United States, -residing 4at Werfen, in `the County of Trumbull and State of Ohio, have invented new and useby both the front and rear doors at either side of the car may Vbe opened to permit the entrance and exit of passengers, the arrangement of the car being such that the passengers should enter at the front and leave at the rear, this arrangement having the great advantageY of permitting' the motorman to act also as the conductor, thus obviating the necessity foi-the employment of two men to run the car.

An additional object is the provision of a door control mechanism which will be comparatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture and install, which will be a great saver of time and annoyance, which will be highly eiiicient and durable in use and a general improvement in the art.

Vith the above and other objects and advantages in view, the invention consists in the details of construction to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which :-V

Figure 1 is av side elevation of a car embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken immediately below the roof and showing the signal devices and door operating mechanism.

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view showing the control mechanism.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the letter A designates the car body, B the floor thereof, C and D the front and rear vestibules respectively equipped with doors E and F-which are hingedly mounted so as to swing outwardly as shown. The car is mounted upon the usual truck G and is of course equipped with the usual control mechanism not shown. y

While it is not absolutely essential, I provide guards 30 located in the vestibule of Rossini,

5, 192.3. vSerial Nlo. 672,939.

kthe bar for the` purpose of -ileadingthe entering passengers from the `entrance* door to the aisle. between. the seats and forleadf ing the passengers from the-aisle between the seatsfto the .exitdoor 'when' 'leaving the Galt It is to be understood Y.that lthese' 30, which are of a fence or gate-like construction, are shiftable so that they may be moved from one position to another de! pendingy upon which side of the car is used for the entrance and exit. This is of course governed to a certain extent bythe nature of the track, that is to say-whether it is a single track or al double one.A

Each guard 30 is shown as being provided at one end with a pair of hooks 31 which are engageable within retaining sockets 32 in the door frame. It is obvious that the guard maybe reversed so that the hook at the end thereofmay be engaged with either set of sockets. 4

The second feature of the invention, namely*the door operating mechanism, comprises a pair of upright controller shafts 33 journaled at one or both ends of the car and equipped at their upper ends with crank handles 34 for effecting turning. At their lower ends, these shafts 33 are formed with crank arms 35. Each door E and F is carried by a vertical shaft 36 journaled in suitable bearings 37 and formed at its lower end with a crank arm 38. Both crank arms 38 at each side of the car are connected by a reach rod 39 which is slidable within suitable bearings 40. Pivotallyy connected with the arm 35 of the controller shaft are links 4l which are in turn pivotally connected with the intermediate portion ofthe reach rod 39. By this construction it will be seen that when either one of the operating shafts 33 is yturned by means of its handle 34 both of the doors at one sidev of the car will be swung into the open position. If desired, any suitable spring mechanism, not shown, might be provided for returning the doors to closed position, or it may be preferred that-they be closed manually by turning the operating shaft in the reverse direction.

From the foregoing description and a study of the drawings it is believed that the construction, operation and advantages of the device will be manifest without any further elaboration. It is however to be noted that the inability of the'doors to be opened Vby anyone other than the motorman in charge of the car is a distinct safety Jfea-ture as the entering and exit of the passengers is controlled entirely by the motorman.

While I have shovvn and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is of course to be understoodY that I reserve the right to make such changes in the form,

construction and arrangement of parts as Will not depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the snbjoined claim. I-Iaving thus described my invention, I

claim In a car having door openings at the opposite end portions thereof, an upright shaft 15 journally mounted at one edge of each door opening, doors rigidly secured to said shaft for closing said openings7 the lower ends of said shafts being formed as crank arms, a reach rod located beneath each side of the car and connected With the crank arms of said shaft at the front and rear of the car, a pair of upright operating shafts arranged in spaced parallel relation at one end of the car and equipped With crank handles,

and links pivotally connected n ith said reach rod and With crank arms formed on the lower ends of said last named shafts.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

LEWIS H. FOSTER.y 

